Kevin Dinsdale's armchair review of the 2014 World Cup - Day 3

Chronicle Head of Sport Kevin Dinsdale's take on day three of the World Cup as England lose to Italy

England manager Roy Hodgson on the touchline during the FIFA World Cup, Group D match at the Arena da Amazonia, Manaus, Brazil (Photo: PA Wire)

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England, oh England a land that’s so great,

A land that’s so fair and so true,

There’ll never be any colours like the red, the white and the blue...

That’s the patriotic stuff out of the way - courtesy of South Shields punk band the Angelic Upstarts - what about the efforts of Roy’s Boys in their opening match?

Well, I said it would end 2-1, just not to Italy.

As an Englishman no one would be surprised if I said, typical England, lost again, what was all the hype about?

The difference this time is that there was little hype and I think the team did well enough to have got something out of the game, so I can’t be overly critical.

For me this World Cup was all about experience for England’s emerging young players, with any good results gained a bonus.

The performance last night for me shows how far Roy Hodgson’s team have come since the last time they met Italy two years ago and augurs well for the future if the same sort of development can be continued.

Two instances of sloppy defending, coupled with poor finishing and delivery in the final third of the pitch, cost England last night.

The decision not to man-mark Andrea Pirlo was questionable, but also admirable as not doing so meant there were no shackles on England’s attacking talent.

It’s a long time since an England manager felt confident enough to play one of the world’s leading nations in a major competition with the mindset that it was more important to make the opposition worry about us than the other way around.

With that in mind, I firmly believe the Three Lions can still make it out of the group.

Uruguay, surprisingly beaten by Costa Rica yesterday, will be better when Luis Suarez makes his inevitable return from injury - and despite the sprayed-on shirt he’ll have to wear.

But the problems the South American side have - in particular in defence and with a chronic lack of flair in midfield - will outweigh the benefit of having their talismanic striker back on board.

Colombia, who looked impressive without their injured main man Radamel Falcao, predictably saw off a pretty toothless Greek side.

Then, in the early hours, we finally saw a North East-based player see some action as Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote took to the field for Ivory Coast against Japan.

In a match for which the continually bizarre ITV coverage left commentator Gary Bloom to work without a summariser - and allowed Ian Wright to refer to Glenn Hoddle as ‘gaffer’ and Lee Dixon as ‘Dicko’ throughout the alleged analysis - we saw the Africans come from behind to beat Alberto Zaccheroni’s men.

Five things I learned from Day Three

Studying videos of Andrea Pirlo in action should be mandatory for any aspiring central midfielder

Glenn Johnson epitomises one of the biggest problems in English football, ie we’ve got too many athletes rather than footballers

Sepp Blatter is a buffoon - I already knew this of course, but I thought I’d say it just in case you hadn’t read the last two instalments

Commentators’ Corner

Phrase of the day: Not so much a phrase, but a name - and a full one at that. The BBC’s Simon Brotherton obviously spent so much time practising pronunciation of defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ name before covering Colombia versus Greece that he felt he should belt it out in full every time the Borussia Dortmund centre-back was involved in the game. For this unnecessary piece of verbal repetition, Simon Brotherton,to give him his full name, gets three points in the race to be my worst main man with the mic.

Fact of the day: ‘Whichever game of football you play, 1-0 is never enough’ - Andy Townsend reveals that no matches end 1-0. All those Arsenal wins under George Graham must’ve been 2-0 then. Take a bow Andy - and five points in my pundits’ race of shame.

Contradiction of the day: ‘There are no comfortable matches in the World Cup, of course, but this has been comfortable for Colombia today’ - former Sunderland winger Kevin Kilbane sums up the match he is watching by putting his foot in his mouth. Has to be worth five points in the worst pundits league.

What to expect from Day Four

I fancy Switzerland and France to make it through from this section and would be surprised if both don’t win their opening fixtures.

Ecuador are not a bad side, but I admire Switzerland coach Ottmar HItzfeld immensely and believe his young side will edge this one. Switzerland 2 Ecuador 1.

France are my tips to do unexpectedly well in this World Cup. Why unexpectedly? Well, they scraped through the play-offs and consequently aren’t among the favourites.

However, that has also removed an enormous amount of pressure from the squad and improved team spirit.

So, even without Franck Ribery, I believe they can make the quarter-finals at least.

And they will have far too much for Honduras tonight. France 3 Honduras 0.

Today’s late match brings the world’s best player, Lionel Messi, to the Maracana as Argentina take on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Alejandro Sabella’s side are my tip to lift the trophy, so there’s no prizes for guessing how I think they will do against a Bosnia side with an abundance of attacking talent, but little in the way of quality defenders.

Bosnia coach Safet Susic tends to follow an all-out-attack policy as a result, so don’t be surprised if Edin Dzeko and the boys don’t push the South Americans hard in a high-scoring affair. Argentina 4 Bosnia 2

One to watch

Antoine Griezmann (France) - Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps may turn to the goalscoring Real Sociedad winger to fill the void by Franck Ribery’s absence from the tournament through injury. If so, expect him to shine.